Cover Reveal: Live for Me by Erin McCarthy

Live for Me [Blurred Lines #2] by Erin McCarthy 

Publication Date: June 23, 2014

Genres: Contemporary, New Adult, Romance

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Synopsis:

The solace she sought…

In and out of foster care her whole life, Tiffany Ennis has never had space or privacy, so housesitting a mansion on the coast of Maine with only the absentee rich owner’s dog for company is pure bliss. But her peace is shattered when the injured owner returns to his compound unexpectedly.  Tiffany finds him to be sexy and intriguing, showing an interest in her that must be mocking, given that everyone’s always told her she’s plain, nothing special.

Becomes an affair she never expected…

Devin Gold, known in the music industry as Gold Daddy, is usually in New York City attending drop parties and having men and women alike throw themselves at him, and Tiffany wishes he’d stayed there.  There’s no reason for a top producer to hole up in Maine in the dead of winter, and every time she turns around he’s asking her prying questions.  She finds herself starting to enjoy their intellectual conversations and clever sparring matches, and in a hot minute she’s falling for him.  Even knowing that he’s a decade older, filthy rich, and could only want her for his momentary amusement.

Yet even when he hosts beautiful and confident guests from the city, he still seems to prefer her company, and is protective when odd things start happening around the house, threatening her safety.  But how far is Tiffany willing to go with a man who is still very much married, estranged wife or not, just to feel special?

And all the lines between past and present and right and wrong are blurred…

Purchase You Make Me [Blurred Lines #1]

Amazon / BN

    AUTHOR BIO

USA Today and New York Times Bestselling author Erin McCarthy sold her first book in 2002 and has since written almost fifty novels and novellas in teen fiction, new adult, and adult romance. Erin has a special weakness for New Orleans, tattoos, high-heeled boots, beaches and martinis. She lives in Ohio with her family, two grumpy cats and a socially awkward dog.

Author links:

Website / Twitter / GR

Review: Cure for the Common Breakup by Beth Kendrick

Cure for the Common Breakup by Beth Kendrick 

Published: May 6, 2014

Publisher: NAL Trade

Format: via publisher

Rating 5/5

Synopsis

Welcome to Black Dog Bay, a tiny seaside town in Delaware known as "the best place in America to bounce back from your breakup." Home to Better Off Bed-and-Breakfast, the Eat Your Heart Out bakery, and the Whinery bar, Black Dog Bay offers a haven for the suddenly single.

Flight attendant Summer Benson lives by two rules: Don’t stay with the same man for too long and never stay in one place. She’s about to break rule number one by considering accepting her boyfriend’s proposal—then disaster strikes and her world is shattered in an instant.

Summer heads to Black Dog Bay, where the locals welcome her. Even Hattie Huntington, the town’s oldest, richest, and meanest resident, likes her enough to give her a job. Then there’s Dutch Jansen, the rugged, stoic mayor, who’s the opposite of her type. She probably shouldn't be kissing him. She definitely shouldn't be falling in love.

After a lifetime of globe-trotting, Summer has finally found a home. But Hattie has old scores to settle and a hidden agenda for her newest employee. Summer finds herself faced with an impossible choice: Leave Black Dog Bay behind forever, or stay with the ones she loves and cost them everything.

My Thoughts

Simply put… I love and adore this book! This is one of those books that were made for the summer. It’s fun, cute, and has just the right amount of romance. Now I love romance just as much as anyone else but I like the realistic type of romance not all that over the top stuff. It just doesn’t read real to me. This was the perfect balance!

I love the whole idea of this small town where people go to get over a breakup. The cast of characters are funny and quirky what’s not to love? The lead character of Summer is my kinda girl. While she was hit by a breakup she never saw coming to picked herself up again and fell for Dutch the mayor of the town who was perfect for her from the start. Summer brought life and courage to this town and they gave her love and friendships that she never truly had before. I really adored the banter between Summer and Dutch; he was just the right person to play back with all her silly and flirty ways.

Cure for the Common Breakup is that quintessential summer read that you have to dive into. It’s the ideal book to enjoy by pool, on the beach or just sitting around. I dare you not to get caught up in this crazy kooky town and not love every minute of it. So go get it and throw it in your beach bag, this is one book that you will polish off in one sitting. It makes you ALMOST want to suffer a breakup just so you could visit this lively town and its crazy yet wonderful residents.

Feature and Follow Friday

Gain new followers and make new friends with the Book Blogger Feature & Follow! If this is your first time here, welcome! You are about to make some new friends and gain new followers -- but you have to know -- the point of this hop is to follow other bloggers also. I follow you, you follow me.

The Feature & Follow is hosted by TWO hosts, Parajunkee of Parajunkee's View and Alison of Alison Can Read. Each host will have their own Feature Blog and this way it'll allow us to show off more new blogs!

Question of the Week: What are your non-book guilty pleasures? Like TV shows, food, websites, hobbies, etc.

My Guilty Pleasures:

I love Scandal and anything on Bravo TV. I also enjoy gossip rags magazines like the Star and US Weekly. As far as food I’m a sucker for sweets. I love cheesecake, mint chocolate chip ice cream and banana pudding.

What’s yours? Please share and feel free to add me however you like…GFC, Bloglovin, Twitter, and/or Goodreads. Be sure to link me up to yours so I can follow back.

Late to the Game [3]: The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

Late to the Game is a series I do featuring books that everybody and their mommy have read…except me. The thing is 99% of the time I have these books but they have just been pushed back on my TBR pile. This won’t be a review of sorts seeing how everyone already knows the basics of the story but more of what I felt and how it affected me. I’ve dedicated this feature to try to put a dent in my pile and also to see if they live up to the hype…good and/or bad.

 

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green 

Published: January 2012

Publisher: Dutton Books

Format: purchased copy

Rating 5/5

Synopsis

Despite the tumor-shrinking medical miracle that has bought her a few years, Hazel has never been anything but terminal, her final chapter inscribed upon diagnosis. But when a gorgeous plot twist named Augustus Waters suddenly appears at Cancer Kid Support Group, Hazel's story is about to be completely rewritten.

I went into this thinking it was a book about cancer and yes it is but that’s just a sliver of what it’s all about. It’s a book about life and living it to its fullest. It’s about love and if you’re lucky enough to find it then embrace it, relish in it for no matter how long you have it. I would rather have a few moments of wonderful,blissful, earth-shattering love than a lifetime of nothing.

The love between Hazel and Augustus is one for the ages. I have never felt so taken by a book in all my life. It goes between teen romances; it’s just that unstoppable beyond this universe kind of thing. We owe it all to John Green. His words are like magic, he comes up with words and phrases that I couldn’t even fathom. All we all know the movie comes out tomorrow and this is one book to screen read I can’t wait for, from what I can tell it looks so amazing! This is one of those once and a lifetime type of books that will continue to make an impact for decades to come, and I for one am so happy and honored John Green shared it with all of us.

WoW [75]

Waiting on Wednesday [WoW] is a weekly event hosted by Jill @ Breaking the Spine that spotlights upcoming releases that we’re eagerly anticipating.

Top Ten Clues You’re Clueless by Liz Czukas 

Expected Publication: December 9, 2014

Publisher: HarperTeen

Synopsis...

Top Five Things That Are Ruining Chloe’s Day

5) Working the 6:30 a.m. shift at GoodFoods Market

4) Crashing a cart into a customer’s car right in front of her snarky coworker Sammi

3) Trying to rock the “drowned rat” look after being caught in a snowstorm

2) Making zero progress with her crush, Tyson (see #3)

1) Being accused—along with her fellow teenage employees—of stealing upwards of $10,000

Chloe would rather be anywhere than locked in work jail (aka the break room) with five of her coworkers . . . even if one of them is Tyson. But if they can band together to clear their names, what looks like a total disaster might just make Chloe’s list of Top Ten Best Moments.

Why I Can’t Wait…

This is just one of those cute fun reads that I like. Plus I enjoyed her previous book so I will definitely check out this one as well.

Feel free to link me to yours.

Book Blitz + Giveaway: My Best Friend Maybe by Caela Carter

My Best Friend, Maybe by Caela Carter 

Release date: June 3rd 2014
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Purchase: Amazon

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BOOK DESCRIPTION

Colette has been bored and lonely ever since her best friend, Sadie, dumped her the summer before they stared high school. She tries to be perfect for everyone left in her life: her parents, her younger brothers, her church youth group, even her boyfriend, Mark. But Colette is restless. And she misses Sadie.

When Sadie tells Colette that she needs her old friend to join her on a family vacation to the Greek Islands, one that leaves in only a few days, Colette is shocked to hear their old magic word: need. And she finds herself agreeing.

Colette tries to relax and enjoy her Grecian surroundings but it’s not easy to go on vacation with the person who hurt you most in the world. When the reason for the trip finally surfaces, Colette finds out this is not only a fun vacation. Sadie has kept an enormous secret from Colette for years...forever. It’s a summer full of surprises, but that might be what Colette needs.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Caela Carter grew up in Basking Ridge, NJ and Baltimore, MD. She's been writing since she learned how to pick up a pen but before the writing thing got serious she spent six years teaching English to middle and high school students in Jacksonville, FL and Chicago, IL.  Her debut novel, ME, HIM, THEM AND IT was published in 2013 by Bloomsbury.  When she's not writing, Caela is a teacher of some awesome teens in Brooklyn, a Notre Dame football enthusiast, and a happy explorer in New York City. 

OFFICIAL WEBSITE | FACEBOOK | TWITTER

**GIVEAWAY**

A hardback copy of My Best Friend Maybe & paperback of Me Him and It. U.S. Only Click here to enter.

Excerpt...

Dad pulls up to the curb outside the international terminal.

When he looks at me, his eyes aren’t so wild anymore. They almost look sad. “You ready?”

“what’s going on, Dad?” I ask. It hits me that he somehow snuck me out of the house and now he’s ready to push me onto an airplane to some distant island, but he still hasn’t said anything real.

He shrugs. “Mom’s not always right,” he says.

But she is.

His eyes fall to his lap. “Neither am I,” he says. “Call your mother. Say good-bye.”

My hands shake as I finally turn on my phone.

She answers before the first ring. “Don’t get on that airplane, Colette,” she says, “Know that I don’t approve of this.”

“You know?” I ask.

“Your father left a note. Colette...” She trials off. “You heard me tell you not to go, right?”

“Yes,” I say.

“Well if you go anyway, be safe. Protect your body and your soul. I changed your phone plan so you can only call home, okay? It’s too expensive for you to call Louisa and Mark willy-nilly.” Mark. “But call when you arrive, okay? So we don’t have to worry.”

“Okay,” I say.

My hands aren’t shaking anymore. I’m relieved to hear her sound like any-old-mom.

“And, honey?” she says. She says it so softly I think she’s going to tell me to have a nice time. Or that she loves me.

“Yeah?”

“I hope you understand what a terrible choice you’re making.”

She hangs up.

I stare at the phone in my palm.

“She okay?” Dad says finally.

I shrug.

We get out of the car and I spot Sadie and her family climbing out of a limo curbed fifty feet away. She jumps up and down as soon as she sees me, her now purple-and-blond hair waving across her face. I can’t help smiling. I can see her mouth moving even from here. “You came! You came!”

I give my dad a quick hug, pull out my suitcase, yank up the handle of my rolly bag, and take my first step as the new, imperfect Coley.

“Colette?” Dad says.

I turn around, ready for him to sit me back in the car, to tell me this was all a test that I failed. Instead he holds out his hand and shoves a stack of bills into my fist. “For whatever you need, little lady. Have fun. I—we. We love you.”

Then he’s gone.

“Coley!” Sadie is running toward me so quickly that I only have a second to open my phone and click on my good-morning text from Mark.

“One more day! I love you!” the message says.

My heart beats faster and salt water threatens to escape from behind my eyeballs and I know he deserves so much better than this, so much more explanation, so much more of me. And me, too. I know I deserve a better good-bye than I’m going to be able to give him. But I only have ten seconds before she reaches me, before it’s time, before the bell rings on my perfect life and I dive into the drama with Sadie.

I type the seven letters i-m s-o-r-r-y. Then I press Send.

Here we go.

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Review: The One & Only by Emily Giffin

The One & Only by Emily Giffin 
Published: May 20, 2014

Publisher: Ballantine Books

Format: via purchased copy

Rating: 5/5

Synopsis

Thirty-three-year-old Shea Rigsby has spent her entire life in Walker, Texas—a small college town that lives and dies by football, a passion she unabashedly shares. Raised alongside her best friend, Lucy, the daughter of Walker’s legendary head coach, Clive Carr, Shea was too devoted to her hometown team to leave. Instead she stayed in Walker for college, even taking a job in the university athletic department after graduation, where she has remained for more than a decade.

But when an unexpected tragedy strikes the tight-knit Walker community, Shea’s comfortable world is upended, and she begins to wonder if the life she’s chosen is really enough for her. As she finally gives up her safety net to set out on an unexpected path, Shea discovers unsettling truths about the people and things she has always trusted most—and is forced to confront her deepest desires, fears, and secrets.

Thoughtful, funny, and brilliantly observed, The One & Only is a luminous novel about finding your passion, following your heart, and, most of all, believing in something bigger than yourself . . . the one and only thing that truly makes life worth living.

My Thoughts

This book kicks off my official summer reading. I love, adore and admire Emily Giffin’s writing. I love it because she writes about women for women. I love how she’s so real and makes her female leads strong yet flawed. The One & Only is my favorite thus far. Okay so maybe I’m a tad biased since I’m from Texas and am I HUGE football fan. This read rang very true to me and my Texas roots.

It’s the story of Shea who is working for her old college in the athletic department but who desperately wants to write. She is recently dealing with the loss of her best friends’ mom, who was like a mother to her. While dealing with this she is also on the verge of breaking up with her boyfriend whom no one thinks is good enough for her. She’s basically just going through the motions at this point in her life. All the while she starts to think a little too much about her best friend Lucy's dad. She is torn she knows she shouldn’t be feeling this way, first off its Lucy’s dad and secondly his wife just past. Shea and Coach have always had a connection…football. Besides her writing it’s the one passion in life. While I won’t give it all away this is a story of hope, loss, love, finding yourself and accepting new beginnings. I love how it shows you can find love in all places, even places you never thought you could. I also enjoyed how it played out the romance and never rushed it. Sometimes real love takes its course. It’s something you can’t rush and it will play out the way it’s meant too. It’s something you can’t force and that’s what I loved about this story. Although it’s not the ideal romance it’s one that’s meant to happen, it’s one that despite all the odds against them and everyone telling them it’s a bad idea their love is bigger than it all.

The One & Only is one of those books that just about everyone can enjoy. There is romance for the ladies and then the football aspect of it for the guys. This is one that I pray makes it to the big screen. I can totally picture this as a movie and hope to see it come to life one day. The only thing that I didn’t care for? The Dallas Cowboys references. Lol! As a Houston native and a Texans fan there has always been that rivalry between the two cities but besides that this book is utterly flawless in my eyes.